(a) Controlled substances in schedule I or II and narcotic drugs in
schedule III, IV, or V; exceptions
It shall be unlawful to import into the customs territory of the
United States from any place outside thereof (but within the United
States), or to import into the United States from any place outside
thereof, any controlled substance in schedule I or II of subchapter
I of this chapter, or any narcotic drug in schedule III, IV, or V
of subchapter I of this chapter, or ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or
phenylpropanolamine, except that -
(1) such amounts of crude opium, poppy straw, concentrate of
poppy straw, and coca leaves, and of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine,
and phenylpropanolamine, as the Attorney General finds to be
necessary to provide for medical, scientific, or other legitimate
purposes, and
(2) such amounts of any controlled substance in schedule I or
II or any narcotic drug in schedule III, IV, or V that the
Attorney General finds to be necessary to provide for the
medical, scientific, or other legitimate needs of the United
States -
(A) during an emergency in which domestic supplies of such
substance or drug are found by the Attorney General to be
inadequate,
(B) in any case in which the Attorney General finds that
competition among domestic manufacturers of the controlled
substance is inadequate and will not be rendered adequate by
the registration of additional manufacturers under section 823
of this title, or
(C) in any case in which the Attorney General finds that such
controlled substance is in limited quantities exclusively for
scientific, analytical, or research uses,
may be so imported under such regulations as the Attorney General
shall prescribe. No crude opium may be so imported for the purpose
of manufacturing heroin or smoking opium.
(b) Nonnarcotic controlled substances in schedule III, IV, or V
It shall be unlawful to import into the customs territory of the
United States from any place outside thereof (but within the United
States), or to import into the United States from any place
outside thereof, any nonnarcotic controlled substance in
schedule III, IV, or V, unless such nonnarcotic controlled
substance -
(1) is imported for medical, scientific, or other legitimate
uses, and
(2) is imported pursuant to such notification, or declaration,
or in the case of any nonnarcotic controlled substance in
schedule III, such import permit, notification, or declaration,
as the Attorney General may by regulation prescribe, except that
if a nonnarcotic controlled substance in schedule IV or V is also
listed in schedule I or II of the Convention on Psychotropic
Substances it shall be imported pursuant to such import permit
requirements, prescribed by regulation of the Attorney General,
as are required by the Convention.
(c) Coca leaves
In addition to the amount of coca leaves authorized to be
imported into the United States under subsection (a) of this
section, the Attorney General may permit the importation of
additional amounts of coca leaves. All cocaine and ecgonine (and
all salts, derivatives, and preparations from which cocaine or
ecgonine may be synthesized or made) contained in such additional
amounts of coca leaves imported under this subsection shall be
destroyed under the supervision of an authorized representative of
the Attorney General.
(d) Application for increased importation of ephedrine,
pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine
(1) With respect to a registrant under section 958 of this title
who is authorized under subsection (a)(1) to import ephedrine,
pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine, at any time during the
year the registrant may apply for an increase in the amount of such
chemical that the registrant is authorized to import, and the
Attorney General may approve the application if the Attorney
General determines that the approval is necessary to provide for
medical, scientific, or other legitimate purposes regarding the
chemical.
(2) With respect to the application under paragraph (1):
(A) Not later than 60 days after receiving the application, the
Attorney General shall approve or deny the application.
(B) In approving the application, the Attorney General shall
specify the period of time for which the approval is in effect,
or shall provide that the approval is effective until the
registrant involved is notified in writing by the Attorney
General that the approval is terminated.
(C) If the Attorney General does not approve or deny the
application before the expiration of the 60-day period under
subparagraph (A), the application is deemed to be approved, and
such approval remains in effect until the Attorney General
notifies the registrant in writing that the approval is
terminated.
(e) Reference to ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine
Each reference in this section to ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or
phenylpropanolamine includes each of the salts, optical isomers,
and salts of optical isomers of such chemical.

Schedules I, II, III, IV, and V, referred to in subsecs. (a) and
(b), are set out in section 812(c) of this title.

AMENDMENTS

2006 - Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 109-177, Sec. 715(1)(A), inserted "or
ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, or phenylpropanolamine," after
"schedule III, IV, or V of subchapter I of this chapter," in
introductory provisions.
Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 109-177, Sec. 715(1)(B), inserted ", and
of ephedrine, pseudoephedrine, and phenylpropanolamine," after
"coca leaves".
Subsecs. (d), (e). Pub. L. 109-177, Sec. 715(2), added subsecs.
(d) and (e).
1984 - Subsec. (a)(1). Pub. L. 98-473, Sec. 519, amended par. (1)
generally, inserting references to poppy straw and concentrate of
poppy straw.
Subsec. (a)(2)(C). Pub. L. 98-473, Sec. 520, added subpar. (C).
Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 98-473, Sec. 521, substituted "is
imported pursuant to such notification, or declaration, or in the
case of any nonnarcotic controlled substance in schedule III, such
import permit, notification, or declaration, as the Attorney
General may by regulation prescribe, except that if a nonnarcotic
controlled substance in schedule IV or V is also listed in schedule
I or II of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances it shall be
imported pursuant to such import permit requirements, prescribed by
regulation of the Attorney General, as are required by the
Convention" for "is imported pursuant to such notification or
declaration requirements as the Attorney General may by regulation
prescribe, except that if a nonnarcotic controlled substance in
schedule III, IV, or V is also listed in schedule I or II of the
Convention on Psychotropic Substances it shall be imported pursuant
to such import permit requirements, prescribed by regulation of the
Attorney General, as are required by the Convention".
1978 - Subsec. (b)(2). Pub. L. 95-633 inserted provision relating
to exception for nonnarcotic controlled substances listed in
schedule I or II of the Convention on Psychotropic Substances.
EFFECTIVE DATE OF 1978 AMENDMENT
Amendment by Pub. L. 95-633 effective on date the Convention on
Psychotropic Substances enters into force in the United States
[July 15, 1980], see section 112 of Pub. L. 95-633, set out as an
Effective Date note under section 801a of this title.